By far, the best acknowledgements slide I saw at Evolution this year came from @swsschaeffer.bsky.social, professor emeritus at Penn State University. “Thank you to Penn State for still giving me an office space. And I thank Social Security for my salary support.”

@conjustover.bsky.social explaining why all polyploid researchers are masochists at #Evol2026

I am looking for a PhD student to start in my lab at UCSB in Fall 2026, studying evolutionary biology. See attached flyer for more information. Please also share with potentially interested students. Thanks!

New Preprint! This one led by Sam Gibbon, an outstanding undergrad I've worked with for the past year. We take a look at whether segregation patterns in tetraploids (disomic v polysomic) affects mut-sel dynamics. We found some surprising results, and some subtleties: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Bistable Mutation-Selection Equilibria and Violations of Fisher's Theorem in Tetraploids: Insights from Nonlinear Dynamics

Polyploidy and whole genome duplication (WGD) are widespread biological phenomena with substantial cellular, meiotic, and genetic effects. Despite their prevalence and significance across the tree of ...

biorxiv.org

New Paper! In 2019, my first dissertation chapter revealed complicated polyploidies in the cotton family (Malvaceae) but we lacked the tools and genomes to truly understand it. Now with better genomes and improved methods, it's much more complicated than we thought. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

If you're new to demographic history inference from population genomics, try this webapp I created to illustrate how dadi fits bottleneck models to site frequency spectra: ryangutenkunst-dadi-two-epoch.hf.space . It even outputs files for submitting to the GHIST competition! ghi.st

The Conover Lab is open! I am so excited to join a group of talented, caring, and creative folks at the @danforthcenter.bsky.social, all in service of improving the human condition through plant science.

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center@danforthcenter.bsky.social · last yr.

The Danforth Center is gaining two outstanding scientists whose unique expertise will support our mission: conjustover.bsky.social & erinsparks.bsky.social, who is a joint hire with Mizzou, are joining our faculty. Read all about their focus areas & more in the full news release: loom.ly/QuMW7XE

Thanks for everything, Tucson! I arrived in St. Louis today, and am incredibly excited to see what this city has in store for me. Only one month until the Conover Lab officially opens at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center!

New Article: "Comparative transcriptomics in ferns reveals key innovations and divergent evolution of the secondary cell walls" rdcu.be/eiWNF Fern transcriptomes reveal repeated whole-genome duplications, unique gene families and distinct lignocellulosic evolution... #PlantScience

Researchers pinpoint the genes responsible for the final three pea traits studied by Gregor Mendel more than 160 years ago https://go.nature.com/3EC3eqT

Century-old genetics mystery of Mendel’s peas finally solved

Researchers pinpoint the genes responsible for the final three pea traits studied by the famed citizen scientist.

go.nature.com

The tragic irony of nearly 2000 scientists, members of the National Academies, coming together to write a letter condemning the attacks on science: docs.google.com/document/d/1... www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/s... And then today: Mass cuts to federal health www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04...

Public Statement on Supporting Science for the Benefit of All Citizens

TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE We all rely on science. Science gave us the smartphones in our pockets, the navigation systems in our cars, and life-saving medical care. We count on engineers when we drive acr...

docs.google.com

Brilliant idea from a colleague. We need the NCAA to advocate on behalf of higher ed in America, b/c they can reach people suspicious of "elites" in higher ed. Imagine March Madness ending with a message about how admin is threaten unis and thus college sports... Any ideas how to make this happen?

After an extensive search, the Danforth Center has named Giles Oldroyd, PhD, its next President. @gilesoldroyd.bsky.social is a renowned plant geneticist & one of only a few hundred scientists elected to both the UK @royalsociety.org & the US @nasonline.org. www.danforthcenter.org/news/interna...

Internationally recognized plant scientist named next President of the Danforth Plant Science Center - Danforth Plant Science Center

After an extensive international search, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center has named Giles Oldroyd, PhD, as its next President.

danforthcenter.org

Our paper on fitting population genetic models to low-pass sequencing data is now out in Molecular Biology and Evolution! doi.org/10.1093/molb...

Short thread on my updated work with @gutengroup.mcb.arizona.edu "Detection of Domestication Signals through the Analysis of the Full Distribution of Fitness Effects", latest version at: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Here we simulate a kind of canonical and idealised domestication process.

Detection of Domestication Signals through the Analysis of the Full Distribution of Fitness Effects

Domestication is a process marked by complex interactions between demographic changes and selective pressures, which together shape genetic diversity. While the phenotypic outcomes of domestication ar...

biorxiv.org

First statistical test of the year was p=0.053. It's going to be a good year.

Second paper from the lab out today (woohoo!). This one led by Rachael DeTar. Check out what happens to mito+plastid translation machinery in plants that have lost photosynthesis! Published in @pnas.org: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Also available on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

If you happen to be interested in the coexistence of diploids and tetraploids given modern coexistence theory and stochastic population dynamics - Check out our #JustAccepted paper at @asn-amnat.bsky.social doi.org/10.1086/734411

Dynamics of mixed-ploidy populations under demographic and environmental stochasticities | The American Naturalist: Vol 0, No ja

doi.org

We identified protein domains in LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor). Their distinctive amino acid usage reveals the order amino acids were added to the genetic code, based mostly on size. Older proteins hint at earlier alternative codes. 1/15 @seekingluca.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Order of amino acid recruitment into the genetic code resolved by last universal common ancestor’s protein domains | PNAS

The current “consensus” order in which amino acids were added to the genetic code is based on potentially biased criteria, such as the absence of s...

pnas.org

Final version of this out now in that beautiful Amnat typesetting! www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

The Genetic Consequences of Range Expansion and Its Influence on Diploidization in Polyploids | The American Naturalist

Abstract Despite newly formed polyploids being subjected to myriad fitness consequences, the relative prevalence of polyploidy, both contemporarily and in ancestral branches of the tree of life, sugge...

journals.uchicago.edu

Will Booker@wbooker.bsky.social · 2y ago

Happy to report the revised version of our manuscript on expansion load and diploidization in polyploids is now up on bioRxiv. Now with more robust results, 2 new equations (wow!), and about a dozen more supplemental figures. Check it out! 🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

another new preprint from the lab! Regina Fairbanks tackles the popgen of teosinte glume architecture 1 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... A 🧵

An ancient origin of the naked grains of maize

Adaptation to novel environments requires genetic variation, which may either predate the novel environment or arise as new mutations. The relative importance of standing genetic variation vs. de novo...

biorxiv.org

new preprint from the lab! Elli Cryan, coadvised but the inimitable @spicybotrytis.bsky.social, does a deep dive into the GA incompatibility loci in maize, finding complex haplotypes, overturning evolutionary origins, and discovering a paramutation system! A 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Molecular evolution of a reproductive barrier in maize and related species

Three cross-incompatibility loci each control a distinct reproductive barrier in domesticated maize ( Zea mays ssp. mays ) and its wild teosinte relatives. These three loci, Teosinte crossing barrier ...

biorxiv.org

Here's the second starter pack of Early Career Evolutionary Biologists: go.bsky.app/j5DX3f Link to first starter pack: go.bsky.app/MzND7nX Follow these inspirational folks to support the next generation of evolutionary biologists #evobio Out of time for now! Will add more names this weekend

Michael Landis@landismj.bsky.social · 2y ago

Here's a starter pack for early career researchers in evolutionary biology. I prioritized the most-junior folks, and this list quickly filled up with undergrads, grad students, and postdocs. Might do another list later, but I'm tired. Have fun everyone! 🐒 #evobio go.bsky.app/MzND7nX

Here's a starter pack for early career researchers in evolutionary biology. I prioritized the most-junior folks, and this list quickly filled up with undergrads, grad students, and postdocs. Might do another list later, but I'm tired. Have fun everyone! 🐒 #evobio go.bsky.app/MzND7nX

We had a wonderful 2024 #Plantsgiving with @conjustover.bsky.social, @aast242.bsky.social, @skang.bsky.social, and @poppybot.bsky.social among others! Our final count for this year's dinner was 103 species from 42 families! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Barker/Dlugosch Plantsgiving 2024 Public List

docs.google.com

Okay, gang. Are we ready for a little Bluesky #PlantsGiving action? A social media tradition since 2018: counting & reporting out the number of plant species consumed during your Thursday dinner. I've got a class doing it for homework. Excited to see what they share. #iamabotanist #bisonflowers

working on this unix redirects diagram today

My app for finding 🦋 accounts you may want to follow has had a make-over: it now displays names and bios, and allows adding an "app password" for direct follow buttons in the listing bsky-follow-finder.theo.io

Since #starterpacks have taken off, I couldn't find a great to way search for them within bluesky. But, you can you search all of the starterpacks here and follow as many as you like! blueskydirectory.com/starter-pack...

All - Bluesky Directory

A curated collection of all things relating to the Blue Sky social media platform.

blueskydirectory.com

The Genomic History Inference Strategies Tournament closes on Nov 15! Analyze genomic data with your favorite demographic inference tool, and see if you can discover the true demography of the population to win the contest (and authorship). More info at ghi.st! Please re-skeet.